Kah'an's eyes shone with a pale glow. Sitting on the edge of the cliff, he still plays the bagpipes by himself. The melodious sound of the flute is accompanied by a little lonely and sad melody, as if with a strange magic, which can easily recall memories from the past.

That feeling is just something that you can't easily forget after listening to it, and it's never easily revealed, and it's full of the melody of missing someone. Even if I was already a friend of life and death with him, as a companion, it was the first time I heard it.

.....................................................................

One day a year after she parted with Aster Igwini. I was walking in the forest on the northern slope of the mountain with my travel bag on my back. Despite being separated from the rough fibers of the linen top, the silver blade at the waist conveys a chill to the skin.

The road to the city of Glen Sollen was extremely difficult. Just walking in the forest, you have to be on the lookout for wolves and unidentified caves in dark corners.

The water in the glass jar had bottomed out pitifully, and the moldy bread was as hard as a stone.

- Still.

"Goo....... I looked up, and the withered but unusually straight trunks of the trees around me jutted into the sky. Only a small patch of dark blue was left overhead. On the contrary, it is precisely in this way, in the gray-black despair, that such a piece of blue can make people feel calm. As soon as you walk through this forest, there will be a stream in front of you to replenish the water. With this in mind, I avoided the stones in front of me and tried not to make a sound.

Something light flashed into his eyes on the ground in front of him.

"Uh-huh....... ？"

Is that....... Is the color of the bare ore?

Doubts arise in the mind, although it is common sense that holding such curiosity is fatal in itself. But I didn't stop there.

It was a rather beautiful inky blue faint glow.

I walked over to me, barely getting through. A rather delicate diamond-shaped crystal that had been cut was half-inserted into the barren soil, glowing.

“...... Huh......?"

I crouched down and touched the object lightly. When the finger touches its surface, the inside of the crystal spreads out from the inside of the finger like a white filament. Slowly fill it up. After that, the white filaments begin to spread through the surface of the crystals towards the earth. The moment I realized the unknown aura, I quickly removed my fingers.

However, the spread of white filaments did not stop there. Countless filaments glowed with light like glass filaments, and for a moment they meandered all over the trunks of the trees that had long since dried up.

For some reason, there was an inexplicable sense of fear in my heart.

Gotta make it stop.

Touch it with your finger again - it doesn't work.

"......Shh "

Stop it.

I simply held it with my whole hand. There was a slight numbness in the palm of the hand. In addition, the filaments are still spreading at an accelerated pace. In a short period of time, the nearby land has been dyed white by dense interspersed filaments.

"Damn. After a moment of panic, I stood up abruptly. Witness as the ground around the crystal turns white as if it were sick. Is there any way to stop it ......?

His right hand subconsciously stroked the silver dagger at his waist. - Silver metal has powerful demon-resisting and demon-breaking properties. If you use it, you can definitely cut it off.

Do you want to do that?

Do you want to destroy an unknown object in the forest?

A series of questions in my heart are enough to overturn the previous reckless thoughts.

But what if you don't?

My eyes searched eagerly around it, trying to capture any useful information about it.

-- The diamond-shaped crystal is half-inserted into the ground.

A fairly simple thought crossed my mind. Although I don't have any hope.

I crouched down and held it completely with both hands.

The numbness sensation of "nourishing ......" spreads from the arm to the whole body. The next moment, both arms exerted together, and suddenly lifted it upward.

Where the crystal was connected to the ground, sparks suddenly burst out. At the same time, the spread of white slowed down instantly.

Useful.

I was even more convinced. The crystals sink quite deeply.

-- Take a deep breath. I use more force. Pull it out from under the ground.

After that, I was amazed to see that the lower end of the crystal was densely covered with something like a plant rhizome.

"Hum-" The white filaments that remained on the ground in all directions suddenly began to dim.

The crystal in his hand began to tremble rapidly. Before I could react, a huge light was released.

"Gooh I jerked my eyes open. For a while, his body seemed to be frozen, and he couldn't move.

Standing in front of him was a giant with a broad axe. Its face was obscured by black cloth, and iron wire was tightly wrapped around its skull. In the small hole that was torn open, hideous blood-red eyes appeared.

Its body, which was tens of meters high, was swaying greedily, and its twisted face was full of excitement.

A huge axe slammed into this direction.

I reacted instantly, and hurriedly rolled to the side.

"Boom-" There was a deafening sound on the ground.

"Hey, stand down!-" Several men with broadswords suddenly rushed out of the woods around him, and rushed towards the giant. When approaching, it quickly disperses around the monster. The neat movements and speed surprised me for a while.

- "Dom! with the dragon's breath!" shouted one of the emaciated men.

"Oh!" replied the man named Dom, who was behind the side. He then took a brown ceramic ball from his waist and threw it at the giant.

"Crackling" is accompanied by the crisp cracking sound of the container. The giant's right leg instantly fell into a sea of fire.

"Woo-woo-woo-" The giant let out a painful sound, thumped, and fell to his knees.

"Got it—" Dom straightened the hilt of his sword and rushed towards the oversized giant's head like a gust of wind. Just stab the giant's eyes -

Will it be that easy?

The moment he rushed to the giant's face, the giant's face was filled with a twisted smile of terrifying excitement and playfulness.

In the next second, the giant clenched the right hand of the giant axe and swung it violently at unimaginable speed.

"Shi ......" stared at the huge hateful face less than ten meters away, and the man was so frightened that he let out an incoherent sound.

"Dom !!! dodge"

The giant slashed the great axe. The blade of the axe is so large that it becomes a blunt weapon for weak humans.

"Ahh――――――h

In the next second, the giant blade that fell from the sky smashed the man in front of his face into a ball of flesh and blood, and due to the huge pressure in an instant, the meat and blood were squeezed and flew more than ten meters away. The strong, bleak smell of blood filled the air.

"You guy—"

"How dare you-

How dare you-

How dare you—"

The emaciated man's face twitched with pain, and he raised his broadsword above his head and charged towards the giant.

"-Stop. I shouted to him like crazy.

........................

"Smack-" Warm blood splattered on my face. The pupils dilate uncontrollably with fear.

"When—" The few remaining men who had witnessed the tragic plight of their companions sat down on the ground in fright, their weapons thrown aside.

Like a demonic giant, he raised his axe like an executioner.

"Don't――――――――――――" I shouted hysterically.

Light and shadow flickered. They just disappeared from my sight.

The giant turned slowly, staring at me with sadistic and greedy eyes from above.

It's like looking at an ant.

The kind of gaze that is no more obvious, full of the pleasure of brutal killing, is probably similar to the feeling of meeting a human soldier.

Want to fight?

An invisible voice sounded in the bottom of my heart. The lower half of the giant's body was already covered with the slash marks of the broad-headed sword.

Are you kidding!

It's not a war against people or animals at all.

If you have weapons against the city, you might be able to.

"Damn—" I shouted angrily.

To defeat it, rely on a dagger!

"Woo-woo-a-" The giant rushed towards this direction in a strange and ugly way.

I pulled out the silver dagger from my waist with a thud, glowing with a silvery white cold light.

"Ahh

I rushed towards the behemoth in front of me.

- "Hey, guy over there. A rather leisurely and calm voice sounded behind itself. ？

I turned my head strangely.

"Slightly, get out of the way, right?"

A blonde man in a white trench coat walked out slowly with his eyes closed.

Is this guy talking to himself, is he crazy? My mind was in a mess and flashed to one side.

"Your dissatisfaction is already on your face!" he joked, still joking.

"What's next—"

He slowly opened his eyes, revealing red pupils.

"I'm going to get on—"

As he spoke, he took out a bow from his back that was all black and shiny, and the bow arm was exaggerated and gorgeously spread like a bird's wing. The magic circuits on both sides gradually filled with golden magic.